MOSCOW, July 28. /ITAR-TASS/. A group of 100 children from war-torn Syria arrived in Russia to spend a two-week vacation at a recreation camp outside the Russian capital of Moscow, a Russian public organization reported on Monday.
“A group of 100 people has arrived in Moscow and they are children of various ages from the orphanage of the monastery of St. Thecla in Maaloula, which was recently attacked by militants, boarding schools for children of killed soldiers in Damascus and residents of the Valley of the Christians near Homs,” a representative of the St. Andrew the First Called Foundation, which organized the trip, said.
“The children will remain in Russia until August 11 and they will be enjoying a diverse cultural program organized at a recreation camp,” the representative said.
The program of the children’s vacation also includes a tour of the Russian capital and a meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
“I am sure that the children will cherish their trip to Russia,” Vladimir Yakunin, the chairman of the organization’s supervisory board, said. “I hope it will help them to take their minds off the terrible events they suffered from.”
Fighting between Syrian government troops and militants has left over 100,000 people dead and displaced millions since its start in March of 2011, according to UN statistics.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), reported earlier in the month that there were currently 2.9 million of Syrian refugees registered in regional countries, with numbers growing at a rate of 100,000 people each month.
International donors allocated $1.1 billion in contributions to the Syria Regional Response Plan, and the UNHCR and its partners have been able to provide for many of the food, health, education and protection needs of refugees. But, the agency noted that this amount constitutes only 30 per cent of the required funds.